The president of Somalia’s athletics federation, Mrs. Khadija Aden Dahir, was placed on administrative leave by the nation’s Olympic Committee. The action follows allegations of nepotism and power abuse in relation to an obviously untrained female athlete.
The athlete’s excruciatingly subpar performance in the 100-meter race at the Summer World University Games in China sparked a massive uproar both domestically and internationally.
Investigation Into Somali Athletics Federation
In a press release from August 2, the Somali Olympic Committee claimed they discovered evidence that Mrs. Dahir had engaged in dishonest practices that amounted to corruption, favouritism, and nepotism during the selection of Nasra Abubakar Ali to represent the nation at the current World University Games.
In a similar vein, the Somali Ministry of Sports and Youth pledged to pursue legal action against the head of the Somali Athletics Federation and any other party found to be complicit in the aforementioned wrongdoing.
Nepotism Alleged
Despite her readily apparent incompetence, Mrs. Nasra was preferred over dozens of authentic and well-deserved Somali athletes due to the alleged privilege of her being the niece of the Athletics Federation’s chairlady.
However, this outlandish news has been circulating across the Somali mainstream media over the past two days. People described the appearance of an unfit athlete in such a highly prestigious sporting event as a total embarrassment to the country’s reputation. In addition, they said it was off-putting to many Somali youngsters with great potential and latent athletic talents.
Mrs Dahir was senior vice president of the Athletics Federaton back in 2010, when veteran president Prof Mohamed Ali Mohamed was elected in his absence. On behalf of the new predisent and herself, she thanked those who voted for them and pledged that the federation would redouble its work for the whole of Somalia.
